To Wake a Prince From His Eternal Slumber
by cypsiman2
Summary: Aqua guides Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy to a certain location in Castle Oblivion.  Spoilers for the ending of Birth by Sleep.  Aqua/Ven, Sora/Kairi, VenQua, SoKai


To Wake a Prince From His Eternal Slumber…

* * *

"Wow, so this is the Chamber of Waking?" Sora said as he followed behind Aqua; after leaving Destiny Islands once more, he'd learned a lot about the Chamber of Waking that Xemnas had been seeking in Castle Oblivion, but even so, to think that he'd passed right by it, so many times… "Ventus is really lucky that you were able to hide him like this, Aqua." Sora said this with a goofy grin on his face; when he'd first found Aqua in the Realm of Darkness, she'd briefly mistaken him for Ventus, and hugged him very, very tightly. He was rather glad that Kairi hadn't been there at that time, as it would have been rather difficult to explain.

"He's just as lucky as you are Sora." Kairi said as she nudged him in the shoulder a little, and he remembered how she saved him when he'd become a heartless, saved him from being lost to the Darkness forever. And then, as both he and Aqua were stuck trying to find their way back through the Realm of Darkness into the Light, she was there once more, ready to bring them back. Only this time, she had her Keyblade, Destiny's Embrace, in hand. Sora had to admit, she'd gotten pretty good with it when he wasn't looking.

"Huh." Riku said as he stopped and looked straight ahead. "So, that's the guy whose heart you've harboring all this time, Sora?" Sora looked at the boy who was asleep on the throne, unmoving, barely breathing; he'd heard that Roxas and Ventus looked just about the same, but seeing it for himself was something else all together. "I don't know, even like this, this guy looks a lot more reliable than you." Sora glared at Riku in the fashion of a wounded puppy, but seeing Riku laugh disarmed him of his momentary irritation.

"Sora." Aqua said as she held Brightcrest in her hand, her voice thick with tension and worry. "I know that I'm asking a lot from you, but…"

"Hey, relax Aqua; I said I was going to save all you guys, and I meant it. Besides," Sora looked over to Kairi, Riku, Donald, and Goofy, "I've got all my friends right here with me."

"You've got that right!" Donald said, a bit on edge ever since returning to Castle Oblivion.

"Yep, ain't no way we're gonna let anything happen to Sora or anyone else." Goofy said with a, well, goofy laugh.

There was a moment of silence as Sora drew out the Kingdom Key; despite all the many Keychains he had, despite all the forms his Keyblade could take, in the end its simplest form was the most ideal, especially for this task. He held it so that the end of it was just before his chest, right where his heart was. He breathed in, and pierced into his heart. At once Aqua, Riku, and Kairi used the power of the Keyblades and their own innate abilities to allow Ventus's heart to be released without damaging it or Sora's heart. The moments stretched on as the chamber filled with light, boundless light, and then…

* * *

"Ven! Ven, are you awake?" Aqua was down on one knee, and gently shook Ventus's body, much the same way she did back in Yen Sid's tower. Back when she'd first learned of the fate of his heart… "Please, Ven, wake up." Why wasn't he waking up? He'd been asleep for so long, and he was so active, so energetic, so shouldn't his heart have woken him up right away.

"Maybe…ughh…" Sora said, still woozy from his ordeal.

"Sora, you need to rest." Kairi said with her most insistent tone, one that came from years of not being able to do much more than insist that other people do this or that or the other thing.

"Again, something's missing." Riku said, remembering back to dark times in his life, times when his desperation drove him to do terrible things in the name of saving one of his most precious friends.

"I just don't get it, all the reports we've ever found said that this should've worked." Donald said, his normal manic, frantic energy exhausted.

"Gawrsh, maybe it's like what happened to Princess…Glow Light?" Goofy said, already aware that he'd managed to goof that one up pretty good.

"Snow White." Aqua said, with a distant look in her eyes. She remembered that time in the Dwarf Woodlands, how the Prince awakening Snow White with a kiss made her think of Ventus, and how his awakening in the Land of Departure made her feel. "Maybe…" She leaned in, her mind unable to let go of the comparison to the Princess locked in the highest tower, only in this case, she'd constructed that very tower. She was about to place her lips upon his brow…

"Wha…" Ventus stirred, and before Aqua could react, he moved his head, and involuntarily brought his lips to hers. So shocked were the two of them that even in present company, neither of them moved. After nearly ten, or maybe fifteen seconds, Aqua pulled away, much more red than before. "Aqua, I, I didn't mean to! Honest!"

"I don't know," Sora said with a sly grin on his face. "I've had your heart inside mine for quite a while now, and I think you've been wanting to do that for a long time." With that, everyone but Aqua and Ventus started laughing.

Aqua resolved that when they finally rescued Terra, he would never hear a word of this. Ever.

Well…maybe not…ever, ever. After all, it could happen again, and if it happened while Terra was around, they were going to have to answer his questions, weren't they?


End file.
